


Into The Ether We Howl

by Dikhotomia



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Rating for later chapters, Requests, random ideas, tags in chapters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-20
Updated: 2020-04-09
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:27:16
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21867478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dikhotomia/pseuds/Dikhotomia
Summary: A Dumping Ground for All Of my (maybe) AU's, Drabbles, One-Shots and Requests.Probably mostly gonna be Edeleth but there might be other ships, everything will be marked in chapters.
Relationships: Edelgard von Hresvelg & My Unit | Byleth, Edelgard von Hresvelg/My Unit | Byleth, Other Relationship Tags to Be Added
Comments: 10
Kudos: 138





	1. The Nature Of Unwinding

**Author's Note:**

> The first chapter of this is a 'Byleth as a Porn Star AU' that once again was spawned in the Edeleth Zine Discord server and written for my friend Frosty.
> 
> This chapter consists of Gay panic Edelgard, some mentions of porn without too much detail, Dorothea being helpful...and...uh, that's all I got so far.

She only decided to sit down and watch it after Dorothea made her, the other woman having dragged her out of her little hidy hole in the apartment's small library with her piles of read, reading, and need to read, books all in their neat stacks. "It'll be fun," she'd said as Edelgard had protested slightly, still holding the book she was right in the middle of. "You're always ready sappy as fuck romance novels anyway!" She added with a grin at the indignant look that crossed Edelgard's face.

"I am _not_ ," she'd protested, glaring. "You just have horrible timing!"

"I'd say I had fantastic timing," Dorothea fired back, pressing their foreheads together before she was slipping away and yanking her along by the wrist. "You need to unwind!"

Edelgard had followed only because she hadn't wanted Dorothea to potentially yank her arm straight out of it's socket with how insistently she was pulling.  
She wouldn't admit she might have been the slightest bit curious.

And her curiosity had wound her up where she was now, leaning against the arm of the couch with Dorothea pressed against her side, watching porn. Possibly the most tastefully made porn she's ever seen in the history of her short career watching it. 

"It's made by lesbians for lesbians," Dorothea comments, glancing up at what Edelgard guesses is probably her jaw from the angle they're sitting. "So you don't have to worry about it being....well, you know."

"Tactless? Artless? Oddly cut and focused?" She offers, looking at the top of the other's head out of the corner of her eye. "And is that you?" She doesn't want to know, but she does at the same time, the brunette currently making out with the blue haired woman on screen far too familiar.

(So she hadn't been paying attention for the first half of it, sue her.)

"Yup!" Dorothea chirps from beside her, sitting up. "I mean we talked about it, I mentioned this company before, remember?"

And she does, recalls it with the words of the book she was reading when they had the conversation along with what Dorothea had said. It leaves her embarrassed, finding herself watching porn with one of the stars right beside her. But not for the reasons someone might think. It's not awkward, since they'd been dating for several years before amicably splitting.

The embarrassment comes from the fact that she forgot. Entirely. "Right, yes, I do remember that."

"No you didn't, you only remembered when I brought it up. It's okay Edie." Dorothea is laughing, Edelgard hides in the collar of her turtleneck.

"Whose the woman with you?" She asks a moment later, focused on the blue haired woman so seamlessly taking control and leading the scene. She has a presence about her that's...arresting, drawing the viewer's focus and holding it. Though it could just be Edelgard's imagination.

"Byleth," Dorothea replies, smirking a little to herself. "Do you like her?"

"She's...lovely to look at," she admits, propping her chin up against her palm.

"I'm her co-star," Dorothea comments, stretching a little. "So you'll see us together a lot."

"What makes you think I'll watch any more after this?" She asks, side eying her.

"Nothing~" Dorothea singsongs, grinning.

She ends up not being able to take her eyes of Byleth. The way she moved, the sound of her voice, the occasional quiet looks she fixed on the camera when she wasn't focused on Dorothea.

Dorothea watches her more than she does the screen, and Edelgard wears a perfected poker-face that doesn't show the struggle going on under the surface. She looks calm when she's not, heat simmering under the collar of her shirt and threatening to spread to her face and lower. Threatening, but nothing more.

She doesn't lose her self given 'I don't get aroused by porn' title that night, but by the end of the scene it's closer to a loss then she'd like to admit. The smug look Dorothea wears tells her the other woman saw through her more than she thought, and she departs the living room with a tight smile and a gentle 'goodnight.'

The rest of the week goes by like it normally does, animated conversation at breakfast over coffee and whatever they have on their plates. The practiced dance they do while they get ready for the day, then the awkward laughing goodbyes as they go their separate ways to work. 

Edelgard pretends not to remember what it is Dorothea is doing while she's organizing books on shelves and ignoring questions unrelated to her job. Edelgard pretends not to see Dorothea's knowing looks when she slips off into her room at night and sits down on her bed with her laptop to watch Byleth again finally, caving in to her desire to see the woman with the soul piercing stare again.

It becomes habit before she knows it, watching each night to see the curves of the other's muscled body, the way all of them shift and ripple underneath the confines of her skin, the way her hands and her fingers move as she touches and strokes and plays her co-stars (as she finds, Byleth has worked with more than one woman--) like instruments. Sometimes she smirks, sometimes her brow pinches slightly in concentration.

Sometimes she forgets the camera is even there.

She swings dangerously close to losing her self given title over and over again, playing along the edge of almost and maybe and her hand only needs to move an extra inch to touch and bring that simmering 'close' to a fully stoked blaze. But she's always too enthralled, too caught up in this other woman to worry about herself.

And a month later, she runs into her. She's out in the middle of a line in a coffee shop, laptop bag held close to her side while she juggles her phone and her wallet, gaze cast over the frame of her glasses to pin down what it is she wants to order from the menu when she loses hold on her phone and can only watch as it clatters sharply to the ground. "Good thing I have a good case on it," she mutters darkly, bending down to grab it.

Another hand beats her to it, and Edelgard's eyes are drawn up to the woman standing in line behind her, both of them straightening up at the same time. None other than Byleth holds her phone out to her with a charming smile and a; "I like those cases, they're really good."

Her brain grinds to a halt, jaw stupidly hanging open slightly as heat burns squarely in her cheeks in a way she knows is obvious. It's her least intelligent moment, standing there, staring hand on the phone she hasn't remembered to take yet, words she's trying to find but seems incapable of. Byleth's smile cracks at the edges, turning to concern as she tilts her head a little, eyebrow raising.

"Are you okay?" She asks, quiet, and behind her someone clears their throat sharply. "It's uh--it's your turn."

The world snaps back into focus and zeros in to a pinpoint, running her straight over with exactly how stupid she just was acting. She starts, coughs once into her shoulder, takes her phone and shoves it back in her pocket. "Fine, thank you," she says, then looks up over Byleth's shoulder. "Sorry for the inconvenience." Wheeling back around she steps up to the counter and orders, shame burning underneath the collar of her coat, offering the cashier an apologetic smile.

She wants to just take her coffee and run, standing off to the side with the rest of the people waiting for their orders and fiddling idly with organizing her wallet again into something resembling neat, shoving it away, and pulling her phone free to scroll through...anything.

Anything at all.

"Hey."

Byleth has other ideas apparently, and she looks up to see her standing just beside her, casual smile back in place. "I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess you recognized me from my work?" She asks, leaning in close enough their biceps brush slightly.

"Yea," Edelgard replies, pretending to read a news article she doesn't care about. "Your co-star is my roommate."

"Oh! Dorothea? She told me you were kind of a stick in the mud sometimes." She laughs and Edelgard rolls her eyes to stave off the next blush she can feel trying to creep up her neck.

"Not as often as I'm sure she tells you I am," she replies, scrolling, scrolling. She'd admit to the antisocial part, but that was all she'd give her. "I'd just rather spend my time alone, reading."

"Nothing wrong with that, but...I know a fan when I see one." 

She side glances, catching the smirk and the glint in her eyes she'd seen so many times before on camera. Playful without being sultry. She huffs. "I've watched your work a lot, yes, fine." She shifts her footing, leaning weight on the side furthest from where Byleth stands.

"You can admit you enjoy it, you know, I'm not going to tell anyone."

The sound of her name being called spares her from responding beyond a flustered glare that lacks any kind of heat. "Have a good rest of your day, Byleth," she replies as she slips out from the small crowd, taking her coffee with a polite 'thank you' and fleeing the establishment without another thought.

Time to go bury herself in the library somewhere and die of embarrassment for the rest of the day.


	2. All These Highs And Lows, You Put On Quite A Show

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Edelgard cuts her off with a finger to the lips, leaning in close enough she can see the blush creeping across Byleth's face. "I appreciate you caring enough to chastise me about not doing my work, my lovely TA," she starts, just about tangling them together. "But--shhh no don't try and talk--but I don't care."_
> 
> _Byleth's brows knot together, a frustrated sigh hissing out through her nose. "By now, you should know my status in the University, I mean, you're TA to Rhea who has the biggest problem with me." Leaning the way she is makes her realize how solid Byleth's frame actually is, muscle hidden underneath the too big t-shirt and she grins up at her again. "So you should also know, telling me to do anything is a sure fire way to get me to not do it at all."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> An Alternate take on Troublemaker Edelgard's first meeting with TA Byleth. It's both an extended scene you'll recognize elements from part 2 and a scrapped scene I didn't end up using but played with. You don't have to have read the series to enjoy this! Though I do have other alternate/scrapped scenes I might write too.
> 
> They're all drunk, Edelgard is a little shit as usual, Byleth is already tired of her. Dorogrid and Ferdibert also make subtle appearances.

It's well after midnight when they leave Crimson Flower, stumbling down the sidewalk in a drunken haze, laughing too loud and dangerously shoving one another. Hubert cautions them more than once, Ferdinand lingering behind them with a pensive look of concern Edelgard and the others ignore. "The responsible drunks!" Dorothea sings as she and Ingrid nearly trip over one another and fall into a nearby lamp post. Edelgard cackles, wheezing and staggering sideways as her vision blurs a little and her coordination decides to take a backseat break.

No one's in the driver's seat, she's sure, her sense of direction just as shot as everything else. "Heeyy," she calls, turning and taking a few unsteady steps backwards (Hubert looks momentarily horrified, and she's sure it's the most expressive she's ever seen him) and waving her arms. "m'super hungry, let's stop by the convenience store for some food."

They agree just in time for Edelgard to trip over an uneven bit of sidewalk, arms pinwheeling and haze punctured by a bit of adrenaline that doesn't save her from falling, landing hard enough on her back the wind gets knocked out of her. She lays there for a moment, sprawled, stunned and blinking up at the light polluted sky. ".....ow," she mumbles a second later as Hubert and Dorothea swim into her line of sight, one looking more amused and the other far more worried.

"Are you okay?" Hubert asks, offering a hand. She takes it a second later, letting him haul her up to her feet and dust her back off.

"Well my pride is a little wounded, and my back kinda hurts, but I'm fine overall," she replies, the shock leaving her a tiny bit more sober than she was. "I'll live." There might be a bruise tomorrow, she wasn't sure, aware that the dull throbbing of her back could mean anything from discomfort that would fade in a few minutes to her looking a little banged up in the...not early morning.

They're a little more cautious for the rest of the walk to the nearby convenience store, sticking closer together and grabbing onto each other when they lean too far and end up falling in to fits of laughter that never quite dies out all the way. The three of them spill into the mostly empty store with less grace then any of them normally possess, Dorothea's foot catching the lip at the entrance and sending both her and Ingrid stumbling into the shop and nearly face-planting. Edelgard follows them in with a grin and barely restrained snickering, shrugging as the lone cashier shoots them an ugly look.

"I'm sorry," Ferdinand says as he and Hubert come in, being the soberest one of them all. "They're all very drunk..." 

"If only you weren't such a lightweight!" Edelgard calls over her shoulder as she follows Dorothea and Ingrid into the snack aisle, snorting another laugh when he shoots her a withering glare.

"I plan to get laid tonight!" Ferdinand fires back and Hubert covers his face and sighs.

Ingrid barks a laugh from behind her, swaying unsteadily. "So you didn't drink to avoid whiskey dick?" She slurs a little, hiccuping. "Smart!" Dorothea breaks into a helpless peal of laughter at the mortified face both Hubert and Ferdinand fix them with, and Edelgard weaves away from them, stuck between drunk hiccuping herself and wheezing giggles.

All of them knew Ingrid would be horrified at herself later on, and probably apologize to Ferdinand for her remarks. But right now? Everyone was free game for a good natured ribbing. And she'd done her level best to roast all of them at least once across the entire night, including herself.

She catches sight of the only other occupant of the store by the freezers, a lone woman with blue hair and a tired stare. She thinks she recognizes her from the university, her torn jeans and her sneakers, band t-shirt hanging two sizes too large for her, flannel shirt wrapped around her waist. Her hair's tied up in a messy ponytail and she's staring down at the selection of frozen meals, clearly trying to choose something for a very late dinner.

Similar to the lot of them.

Dorothea flops against her side as she's trying to decide if she wants to risk talking to the currently nameless woman or not, making her list horribly to the side the other woman leans on, arm over her shoulder. "Hey," she whispers, and it's too loud, loud enough the woman by the freezer can probably hear her anyway. "Isn't that the new TA? What's her name...uh...Bayleaf? Bilth...." she trails off, struggling to come up with the name she tries several more times to say.

"Byleth?" Edelgard supplies finally, logic pinging a memory somewhere at the back of her mind. "Yea she just started last week right?" She has a hazy memory of the other woman at her desk, watching all of them as they slogged through another one of Rhea's classes. She remembers catching those eyes once or twice when she started shit with an off handed comment or a refusal to answer a question.

The Troublemaker, everyone knew her as. A brilliant student with a lazy outlook, putting forth just enough effort to pass in all but one class. 

"Hey!" Dorothea exclaims, shaking her and making the world spin in the blurring of her vision. "She's hot right? And your type, why not say 'hi'?"

"Because I'm drunk and too forward for most people," she replies, shaking her head. "Besides she's a TA you know how this University is," she adds, casting another glance as Byleth reaches into the freezer to pull out a couple meals, turning one over to read the back. 

"Soooo? I bet you could wrap her around your finger like you do most people, and you can get her to help you pass~" Dorothea singsongs, wandering by her. "Besides you need a girlfriend or something, you haven't gotten laid in forever."

"My sex life, or lack thereof, is not up for debate right now," she grouses, rolling her eyes. "But you're right, I'm sick of playing fifth wheel to the rest of you."

"So go talk to her!" Dorothea says, sliding back to her side long enough to shove her. "Ingrid and I will get you something don't worry." 

Ingrid, who she can hear behind them somewhere with a cart, calling after Dorothea about what chips she thinks they should get. Dorothea shoves her again, then turns, "Lays!" she calls back, heading back down the aisle Edelgard stands at the mouth of now. 

She leaves them to it, wandering over to where Byleth still stands. "I wouldn't get Banquet," she says, leaning her hip against the door. "It's pretty much all salt."

Byleth tenses and looks up at her, blinking like she hadn't actually expected anyone to come over, and she probably honestly hadn't. Edelgard grins, raising an eyebrow as the other woman gives her a slow once over, then narrows her eyes with a sense of familiarity.

"Edelgard," she says finally. "You're out awful late."

"So are you, TA of ours," she drawls in reply, licking her teeth. "Late night grading papers?"

"Late night drinking?" Byleth counters, putting the Banquet meal back in favor of the Stouffer's lasagna still in her other hand. "I heard you guys come in, you were kind of loud."

"It's a weekend," Edelgard says, shrugging. "And yea, we just left Crimson Flower and came here for some snacks. Like you came here for a late night dinner."

"It's a _Sunday,_ " Byleth states, exasperated. "You have an essay due tomorrow and instead of working on that you're out here drunk doing--" she's cut off by Dorothea's hysterical peal of laughter and Ingrid's shouting, both of them turning around in time to see Dorothea sail out of the aisle in a shopping cart with Ingrid chasing her, "--Whatever this is."

They cringe slightly as the cart hits the wall at the back of the store, Ingrid's lucky catch having slowed it just enough not to cause any damage to either the cart or Dorothea, but still hard enough both of them don't move for a few seconds, gasping for air and laughing. She wonders briefly where Hubert and Ferdinand are, then pushes it out of mind. "Having fun," she says finally, reaching out and patting Byleth's shoulder. "We're having fun."

"Having fun is good, but-"

Edelgard cuts her off with a finger to the lips, leaning in close enough she can see the blush creeping across Byleth's face. "I appreciate you caring enough to chastise me about not doing my work, my lovely TA," she starts, just about tangling them together. "But--shhh no don't try and talk--but I don't care."

Byleth's brows knot together, a frustrated sigh hissing out through her nose. "By now, you should know my status in the University, I mean, you're TA to Rhea who has the biggest problem with me." Leaning the way she is makes her realize how solid Byleth's frame actually is, muscle hidden underneath the too big t-shirt and she grins up at her again. "So you should also know, telling me to do anything is a sure fire way to get me to not do it at all."

The TA seizes her wrist a moment later, gently pulling her hand away from her mouth. "And when you have to repeat Rhea's class again?" She asks, and it would be a fair point to an Edelgard more sober than the her right in this moment.

"I guess I'll just keep making her life a living hell," she replies with a laugh.

Byleth sighs again, and extracts herself from Edelgard's hold. "Look, I know you don't like Rhea, I get it. But I'm there too, so maybe at least ask me for help if you need it?"

Dorothea yells her name from the other end of the store and she waves over her shoulder to tell her to wait a second. "Sure, TA, If I decide I wanna put forth the effort, I'll come to you. See ya Monday," she drawls, wiggling her fingers in a wave before she walks away, leaving the other woman standing there by the freezers, dumbfounded.

She thinks Byleth's little pout is adorable.

They get out of the shop relatively unscathed, snacks and drinks carried in bags and the cashier well compensated for putting up with their drunken bullshit. All of them make it home, Hubert and Ferdinand to their shared apartment, Edelgard, Dorothea and Ingrid to theirs.

Edelgard passes out on the couch after they all eat their fill and Ingrid and Dorothea retire to their room for the night.


	3. A Compilation of Threads

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All My Twitter threadfics in one compiled Chapter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Basically if you're following me on twitter you can pretty much ignore this, I wanted to put all of my little threadfics in one place finally and....actually got around to doing it instead of saying 'eh I'll do it later.'
> 
> It's later.

(Edeleth Fluff, kidfic)

The piano sings, notes reverberating along the hallways of their small house. The sound brings Byleth from her cooking, stew left to simmer on the fire, their cat threading between her feet as she walks from the kitchen to the sitting room.

She finds Edelgard much where she expected her, sitting at the piano, eyes closed and fingers dancing across the keys, body swaying slightly with each motion.

It takes her an extra moment to notice their daughter, tiny hands atop the backs of Edelgard's, feet kicking slightly in time with the shifts of Edelgard's. She's transfixed by the keys, by the music that comes from the instrument, little face alight with glee and fascination. It gives Byleth time to get closer to both of them, sitting down in the chair nearby to listen, recognizing the piece as a festival song, a song she knows the words to. A song she sings as Edelgard cycles back to the beginning, smiling when her wife's eyes open and her shoulders tense slightly in surprise. She doesn't stop though, a breathless laugh escaping her, their daughter giggling.

The cat settles atop the piano, watching them, tail flicking lazily. Byleth loses herself in it much as Edelgard had, eyes closed and hands twitching up until the final notes ease and echo and Edelgard comes to a stop.

The little girl in her lap giggles and claps, and Byleth smiles at them both. "Momma," she says, reaching up to pat at Edelgard's cheeks. "Can I learn?"

"Of course," Edelgard replies, lifting the child in her arms as she slides off the bench and stands. "I'll teach you when you're a bit older. Now, I think your mother Would like some help in the kitchen, hm?" the former Emperor's eyes flick to Byleth where she stands now, rubbing the cat's head.

She hums, low, thoughtful. Thinking of the stew she'd left and contemplating how long she'd been sitting here. "I sure could," she agrees.

"I need someone to set the table," she adds as she starts her way back to the kitchen, Edelgard's steps following in her wake.

"Oh!" their daughter exclaims. "I can!"

\---------------

(More Edeleth Fluff)

Byleth catches Edelgard humming under her breath while she's working and instead of disturbing her she chooses to stand and listen. Eventually she starts to sing and while it's not the best, it still brings a smile to Byleth's face.

Inevitably, Edelgard notices and pauses, embarrassment staining her cheeks almost as red as her shirt. "My Teacher, I didn't...I'm sorry did you need something?"  
Byleth laughs, a quiet thing, but a sound cherished nonetheless. "I thought you might like some lunch." She pauses then decides to broach the subject she's now curious about.

"I've never heard that song," she adds, stepping into the office. "What is it about?" Because traveling as she had, she's heard many different songs over the years. This was something else.

Edelgard's flush deepens and she lifts a hand to scratch her cheek absently. "Ah. It's an old Adrestian folktale about the foundation of the Empire. My...mother used to sing it to me when I was little. It's one of the few things I can recall of her." For a brief moment the air turns sombre and Byleth reaches a hand out to touch Edelgard's cheek. "I'd like to hear the rest sometime, if you don't mind." 

"Oh, I'm sure Dorothea would-" Byleth stops her, shaking her head and smiling all over again until her cheeks hurt.

"No, I want to hear you sing it."

For a moment Edelgard is silent, contemplative, then she relents with a tiny smile and a sigh. "Alright, but only because it's you."

Byleth takes it for what it is and urges the other woman to her feet. "I look forward to it, but for now...lunch."

\----------

(Half Light Verse, In the Past.)

"I had an odd dream." And it's by habit that Seiros turns with the sound of Sothis' voice, hand rested on the door that shuts without her guidance, the shuddering slam echoing through the hall

"An odd dream?" Serios inquires, crossing the distance; door to throne. "That's not like you to be troubled by such things." She stops at the foot of the stairs, staring up.   
Sothis meets her eyes, lips drawn into a frown that speaks volumes. "You would be right normally...but-"

"But this was something else, It was not something abstract that I hardly recalled upon waking. This was vivid, like I was a passenger in the mind of another."   
Seiros can see just how deeply it affects her, can see the fear and how it resides as shadows behind her eyes.

"Tell me," she says, ascending the steps to sit aside the throne. "Tell me what you saw."

The silence stretches, bends and chills until it settles heavy across Seiros' shoulders. She almost breaks it, almost prods when she knows better, knows not to rush.

"I saw a woman, or I was this woman. Bound in chains, strung up like a demon's warning display." Sothis drops off into silence again, threading her fingers through her hair. "I do not understand why, or who...I just know we must do something."

Seiros looks away chewing the inside of her lip until she tastes the familiar copper of blood. "I will see what I can find. If anything." They were thin in numbers now, thinner by the day the more they're hunted and killed.

Playing easily into the waiting claws of the demons still on the surface.

Sothis' fingers wrap around her wrist as she stands, halting her at a half step. "Seiros," she says, waits until their eyes meet. "Please, I want you to be careful. This will not be something easily handled."

She reaches, laying her hand against her mother's. "I know."

\---------

(Edelgard Angst)

While Edelgard likes the quiet, she doesn't like the silence. She can fill the quiet with activity; the words on the pages of books, the comforting hiss-pop of a fire, the quiet presence of another.

With a tune hummed off the top of her mind accompanying the scratch of a quill across paper. With birdsong and distant activity in the hallways. There's always the awareness of life other than herself, of people nearby and the outside world a walk away.

The silence is different, it comes when night falls and activity dies away and distractions seem like something distant and impossible. Silence brings with it the reminder of cold nights and hard stone, of chains rattling and tiny feet whispering, waiting for something she's not sure about. Of heavy footsteps and dread aching in her chest. She fills it in her own ways, with long walks on moonlight nights, or with studies, or drawing, but it never fully chases it away. The nightmares always come as soon as sleep takes her.

And they hold her hostage, wring her out and leave her drained. They put her on guard, her smiles faked and trust slow, never quite able to stop watching everyone and everything, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Over and over and over.

\---------

(Hegeleth Fluff)

"You broke the couch..." It's not the most graceful of responses to seeing the demon coiled awkwardly on said broken furniture, but it's the first thing that comes to mind. "You know we have things specifically built for this, right?"

Edelgard pretends to ignore her, tail swishing and a rumbling chuff resonating from somewhere low in her chest. "I know you heard me," Byleth says, shutting the door behind her as she crosses into the sitting room. "Did something happen to...set this off?"

It wasn't often the other woman ended up like this, usually it was by Byleth's request, or an outside catalyst. Or maybe Edelgard was just in a mood. "El?"  
Finally, slowly, Edelgard shifted, head lifting and crimson eyes settling on her where she stood. "Politician," the demon rumbles and Byleth immediately understands. 

"Ah. You uh...didn't..." she knew the answer already, but she needed to ask to make sure they didn't actually have to do damage control.

Another chuff, and the other woman rolls her eyes. "No. I left the room before anything happened," she says, tail flicking in minor agitation. "I broke the couch instead," she drawls, lips parting in a sharp toothed grin that Byleth pegs immediately as sarcasm.

"The couch never did anything to you," Byleth says, scandalized. "It was innocent."

Edelgard laughs, deep and resonant.

"An unfortunate sacrifice," she replies, rolling over as Byleth draws even closer. "It's now my throne in this form, we'll leave it here and never explain."

Byleth laughs, startled and sputtering until her eyes water and her lungs ache faintly. "I like that idea, alright."

Slowly she joins the other woman on the couch, climbing up across the demon to lay down against her chest, curling in to her warmth. It had taken practice to learn where to settle against the armor and sinew but now she could do it like putting on a glove.

She smiles as Edelgard shifts them, rolling enough to curl securely around her, hiding her from the world at large. She tangles herself against the other woman, pressed as close and as tight to her as she could get, listening to the beat of her heart. "I'm going to fall asleep like this," Byleth mumbles, fingers running along the scales coating the edge of her shoulder. "I have an errand I wanted to run..." but she's warm, comfortable...safe.

And Edelgard is purring. "I'll do it later," she mumbles, closing her eyes. "After a nap."

\----------

(Dragonleth)

There's something to be said about the new Professor, her new Professor, the woman is odd to say the least, quiet, but knowledgeable about the things she teaches. But she has a few habits Edelgard was unsure how to explain, like her ability to put away more meat then she herself knew what to do with, or the way she'd caught her sleeping, curled up in the sun with the cats.

It had all been things she brushed off, it wasn't any of her business, and she had never been a mercenary living out on the road. How was she to know what it was like out there anyway?

There's something to be said about the new Professor, her occasional sharp edged half smiles and the way she watched certain things a little too intently -- namely her -- piercing and pinning her to the spot until she was left wondering if she had done something wrong, eyes darting from the Professor to any student near her and back.

It always left her a little flustered, heat burning underneath the collar of her uniform and threatening to spread to her face. She passes it off as her own paranoia as quickly as she can, learning to weather the other woman's stares and new habit of getting a little bit too close.

What she doesn't, under any circumstance, expect is for the Professor to look her dead in the eye one day after class and everyone has filtered out but them, open her mouth and let her tongue loll out from between those too sharp teeth.

She doesn't expect to be so long, dipping past her chin and nearly to her collarbone. Edelgard gapes, sputters, heat flaring all the way to her ears as her brain struggles to process exactly what it is she's looking at. Logically she knows what it is, but illogically something in her mind absolutely refuses to believe it.

Human tongues weren't that long.

The Professor, the bastard, has the nerve to wink at her before her tongue vanishes back in her mouth and she strolls away, leaving her standing there, stupefied and wondering silently if human combustion is physically possible.

Dorothea finds her after an indeterminable amount of time, still red faced and slack jawed, staring at the spot the Professor had vacated. "Edie?" the other woman says, reaching out and waving a hand in front of her face. "Hey Edie?"

When she doesn't respond Dorothea pokes her cheek, then her temple. "Earth to Edie, everyone's wondering where you went." She pauses, longer this time.  
Edelgard startles out of it, inhaling and blinking, turning to look at the other woman. "I'm sorry, did you need something?"

"Okay, there's a story here and I'm absolutely dying to hear it."

She doesn't get the chance to protest before Dorothea is dragging her away.

**Author's Note:**

> Catch Me (as usual) in the [Twitterverse!](https://twitter.com/modulatechaos)


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